VOICES OF BIRDS. 
184 
( 
brings matured fruits, chilly airs, and sober hours, and 
he, the lonely minstrel now that sings, is understood by 
all. These four birds thus indicate a separate season, 
have no interference with the intelligence of the other, 
nor could they be transposed without the loss of all the 
meaning they convey, which no contrivance of art could 
supply ; and, by long association, they have become 
identified with the period, and in peculiar accordance 
with the time. 
We note birds in general more from their voices than 
their plumage ; for the carols of spring may be heard 
involuntarily, but to observe the form and decoration 
of these creatures, requires an attention not always 
given. Yet we have some native birds beautifully and 
conspicuously feathered ; the goldfinch, the chaffinch, 
the wagtails, are all eminently adorned, and the fine 
gradations of sober browns in several others are very 
pleasing. Those sweet sounds, called the song of birds, 
proceed only from the male ; and, with a few excep- 
tions, only during the season of incubation. Hence the 
comparative quietness of our summer months, when 
this care is over, except from accidental causes, where 
a second nest is formed ; few of our birds bringing up 
more than one brood in the season. The redbreast, 
blackbird, and thrush, in mild winters will continu- 
ally be heard, and form exceptions to the general 
procedure of our British birds ; and we have one little 
bird, the woodlark (alunda arborea), that in the early 
parts of the autumnal months delights us with its har- 
mony, and its carols may be heard in the air commonly 
during the calm sunny mornings of this season. They 
have a softness and quietness perfectly in unison with 
the sober, almost melancholy, stillness of the hour. 
The skylark also sings now, and its song is very sweet, 
full of harmony, cheerful as the blue Sky and gladden- 
ing beam in which it circles and sports, and known and 
admired by all ; but the voice of the woodlark is local, 
not so generally heard, from its softness must almost be 
listened for, to be distinguished, and has not any pre- 
tensions to the hilarity of the former. This little bird 
sings likewise in the spring ; but, at that season, the 
